A former Montebello Unified School District superintendent has filed a cross-complaint against the district in a spinoff of litigation that started when a man sued both him and the district, alleging the ex-schools chief lured him into a sexual relationship in 2021 with promises of money, training and help getting his U.S. citizenship.
Anthony Martinez alleges in the Los Angeles Superior Court cross-complaint brought Friday that although he denies having any liability to plaintiff Walther Medina, he believes the district should compensate him for any damages he is required to pay his accuser due to a jury verdict or settlement, and that he also should be reimbursed for his attorneys’ fees and costs.
On July 10, Judge Maurice Leiter reversed his decision last October to dismiss the case for the failure of Medina’s attorney to appear at scheduled hearings dating back to April 2022. Leiter accepted the lawyer’s claim that he was unable to show up due to illness.
According to the suit, beginning on or about March 2019, Martinez obtained the then-30-year-old Medina’s trust through promises of money, education and training. Other enticements included involving Medina in leadership programs and creating a class specifically for Medina, setting up a scholarship in his name and assisting him with getting his U.S. citizenship, the suit states.
Martinez was “secretly planning to exploit the trust … as a means of forcing (Medina) to engage in a sexual relationship in an unlawful quid pro quo,” the suit alleges.
Medina told Martinez that he did not want a romantic relationship with him and demanded that the superintendent respond in kind, the suit states.
“Martinez fraudulently told (the plaintiff) he did not expect a romantic relationship from Medina,” the suit states.
During the spring and summer of 2019, Martinez engaged in inappropriate touching of Medina in the superintendent’s office and in his home, according to the suit. Martinez also allegedly sent the plaintiff romantic messages and took photos of him.
When Medina resisted Martinez’s alleged advances, the schools chief retaliated by showing up at his workplace and discussing the plaintiff’s family and education despite being told not to do so and by repeatedly calling him and sending him text messages, the suit states.
The alleged harassment eventually forced Medina to leave the district and end his education, according to the suit.
MUSD lawyers maintain in their court papers that any alleged relationship between Medina and Martinez was “purely private,” but add, “Dr. Martinez has affirmatively denied plaintiff’s allegations in their entirety.”
In their court papers, MUSD attorneys maintain that Martinez’s alleged “quid pro quo harassment” of Medina was the equivalent of a teacher who offers a student a favorable grade in exchange for sex or a coach who promises a student-athlete she can be team captain if she sleeps with him.
“These examples are clearly outside the course and scope of employment, as a matter of law, and so, too, is Dr. Martinez’s alleged offer of help enrolling in classes in exchange for sex,” the MUSD attorneys state in their court papers.
Martinez was fired in March 2021.